


Charlie Doesn't Have An eBay Addiction

by ballsdeepinwinchesters



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Chatting & Messaging, E-mail, Enemies to Friends, F/F, Femslash, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gaming, Geek Love, Geeky, Long-Distance Friendship, Long-Distance Relationship, Nerdiness, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 18:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5015026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballsdeepinwinchesters/pseuds/ballsdeepinwinchesters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s more like… a hobby. A pastime, if you will. Definitely not an addiction. Yeah, sure, she takes some time (just a couple minutes, maybe an hour or two) out of her day to scour the listings for something she likes. But if you saw a listing for a 3D galaxy sculpture bookend with the USS NCC-1701, wouldn’t you put a bid on it? Of course, you would! Charlie’s just a normal human being. A human being with an insatiable collector’s itch, but normal nonetheless.</p><p>*Only rated T for language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Charlie Doesn't Have An eBay Addiction

Charlie doesn’t have an eBay addiction. It’s more like… a hobby. A pastime, if you will. Definitely not an addiction. Yeah, sure, she takes some time (just a couple minutes, maybe an hour or two) out of her day to scour the listings for something she likes. But if you saw a listing for a 3D galaxy sculpture bookend with the USS NCC-1701, wouldn’t you put a bid on it? Of course, you would! Charlie’s just a normal human being. A human being with an insatiable collector’s itch, but normal nonetheless.

She doesn’t really talk about it to her IRL friends. They come by her apartment and geek out over her cool collector’s items, and she’ll mention in passing that she won them in an auction, but she doesn’t delve into the time and energy she puts into this particular hobby.

With time and energy comes skill, and Charlie has essentially leveled up to “eBay Wizard” at this point. She knows which listings to stay away from- ones with more than ten bidders are usually pointless and her bank account isn’t exactly flexible enough to compete aggressively. She knows that she needs to keep an eye on the item listing when there’s less than a day left so it doesn’t slip out of her reach. And she also knows how to play dirty; she’ll stay dormant on a listing until there’s maybe 15 minutes left on it and then she increases the bid until she’s the highest bidder, snatching the item out of the other bidder’s hands at the last second. Maybe “charliezard626” was a bitch, but that just means other bidders know to stay out of the way when they see “c***6” on the item’s bid history.

Except for one person in particular. It all started a few months ago when Charlie set her sights on this rare vintage 1981 Pac-Man mini console game. Charlie was doing her thing, watching as the time ticked down and she remained the highest bidder. When there was only five minutes left, her phone buzzed and she looked away from the screen long enough to respond to the message. By the time she looked back, she wasn’t the highest bidder anymore, and time had ticked down to 10 seconds. Needless to say, Charlie was kind of pissed. She made a mental note of the “j***4” screenname and moved on.

The week after, Charlie had forgotten all about it and was about to win an auction for this really cute Q*Bert game topper- which would look super cool by her entertainment system, by the way- when another bidder stepped in and upped her max bid. _Not today, bitch._ She instantly increased her bid again, which was still somehow not enough. Charlie decided to wait until there was almost no time left when she would bid again. So, as she watched the time tick down, she finally placed a bid high enough to beat the other person. Which would’ve been awesome if the other person wasn’t a fucking loser who stared at their computer the whole time because yeah, they definitely noticed and upped the bid _just enough_ to win at the last second. Charlie slammed her fist on the table in defeat. “j***4” is a bitch.

The next time they cross paths, it’s over an old-school foosball table. It’s nothing special, but Charlie wanted it. She’d been really busy with work lately and hadn’t had time to satisfy her itch. So, she bid on it figuring nobody else would really care enough to fight her on it. There were no other bidders until the last day. And, _of course_ , here comes “j***4” to ruin her day. They go back and forth, back and forth bidding way past the limit Charlie had set for herself to spend on this thing. But goddamnit, Charlie was determined to not let herself get beat again. So, she kept bidding. When time was counting down, she was the highest bidder. Staring at the highest bid price, she silently hoped “j***4” would win. It was almost $300 past her limit, and Charlie was instantly regretting it. She didn’t know how she let herself get lost in this bidding war, and she made a mental note to look up eBay addictions later. But, unfortunately, “j***4” stopped bidding and let her win. It was the most bitter of sweet victories she’d ever tasted.

The last time it happened, they were competing for a rare Dragon’s Lair arcade marquee. Charlie’s legs were bouncing restlessly, awaiting any activity from “j***4”. There was another bidder, but they were easily discouraged and backed out after one or two increased bids. Nothing happened after the first few days, but Charlie knew her nemesis liked to strike near the end of the auction. Without fail, on the last day, there was an increased bid. Charlie let out a long breath and steadied herself. _Don’t let them get to you. You’ve got this. You’re Charlie freakin’ Bradbury. You totally got this._ And maybe it wasn’t actually as intense as she was making it out to be, but Charlie’s competitive, so that’s just how it is.

She increased her bid by $50, justifying it to herself by saying it’s rare so it’s worth the money. She was the highest bidder for an hour or two. But as the time started counting down the last hour, the enemy struck again. The bid was increased by another $50. “Of course,” Charlie mumbled to herself. “You can’t just _let_ me have something easily.” She waited a while, until there was ten minutes left, before she increased her bid again- this time by $75. And she tried to relax, saying that was as high as she’d go. _You don’t need it. Sure, it’s super cool, and it’ll look really great on that place over the mantle, but you don’t_ need _it._

And apparently “j***4” agreed with her because they stole it right out from under her yet again. Charlie cursed and slammed her hand on the table. This was the last straw, “j***4” had pushed her past her breaking point, and she had a few words she wanted to say to them. Fortunately or unfortunately, eBay’s bidding system is kept between buyers and sellers, so she had to do a little hacking to find this person’s information.

It didn’t take a whole lot of effort from her end, being familiar with the site’s coding. After some snooping, she found their username was actually “joharv54”. Their profile was standard- no picture or public information. Just lots of feedback- almost as many stars as Charlie had, she noticed. So, with some more prying from her end, she wound up with the person’s email address. Without even thinking twice, she copied and pasted the email address into a message and began typing.

_“So, we bid against each other pretty consistently on eBay, and I’m just wondering something. Do you live just to make my life difficult specifically, or are you just a bitch? -C. Bradbury”_

__

And, okay _maybe_ it wasn’t the most polite of messages, but Charlie was pretty ticked off. Less than an hour later, she got a response.

_“I don’t know who you are or what your problem is, but I’m sorry if you can’t compete with the pros. Not my problem. -Jo Harvelle”_

She gaped offendedly at her screen. “ _I_ can’t compete with the pros? I _am_ the pro! Who the hell do you think you are?” Charlie spoke aloud to her empty apartment. She immediately typed out her response.

_“You always steal these things right out from under me. That’s MY move. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I know a dirty player when I see one. And you play dirty. (And for the record, my name is Charlie.) -C. Bradbury”_

Instead of responding with another email, an instant message box popped open with this Jo person’s username.

_joharv54: “Alright, Charlie. U wanna have it out, let’s have it out.”_

_joharv54: “It’s an auction site. That’s what u do @ auctions. U play to win. I can’t help it if I’m just better than u.”_

Charlie rolled her eyes. Whoever Jo was, they were a smug asshole.

_charliezard626: “Better than me? You wish! I used to be the best around here, and you’re stepping in my territory.”_

_joharv54: “UR territory? Didn’t know the gaming section of eBay was a territory, but lol ok, w/e.”_

_joharv54: “Btw how’s that foosball table working out 4 u? ;)”_

Charlie groaned and sent a small glare over to the unused foosball table in her living room. She was still pretty mad about spending so much on something she could’ve gotten down the road for half the price and in better condition.

_charliezard626: “Shut up.”_

_charliezard626: “What do you even need all of this for, anyways? Obviously you’re a fucking loser who has nothing better to do than buy up all the video game stuff on eBay, so I don’t expect you to be doing much with it.”_

_joharv54: “lol omg”_

_joharv54: “What does it matter to u?”_

_charliezard626: “It doesn’t. I’m curious.”_

_charliezard626: “Humor me.”_

The next response took a little longer, but it still came nonetheless.

__

_joharv54: “Family owns a bar, I’m taking it over & changing the theme. It was lame and outdated, I wanted to make it a cooler place for younger people to hang out, play games & w/e.”_

_joharv54: “It’s pretty cool.”_

_joharv54: “Why do u want this stuff so badly?”_

_joharv54: “Ur always buying stuff, and it’s not all related or anything, so.”_

_joharv54: “U must be a hoarder”_

_charliezard626: “I’m not a hoarder.”_

_charliezard626: “I’m a collector.”_

_joharv54: “lol that’s just another word 4 hoarder”_

_charliezard626: “I’m a collector! Seriously. My place is awesome. Probably a lot cooler than your lame bar.”_

There was no response, and Charlie kind of felt herself hoping there was. After a few minutes without a notification, she just shrugged and closed out of the window. Charlie went about the rest of her nightly routine of showering, putting on pajamas and getting out a tin of Pop-Tarts to eat in front of the TV- tonight she was rewatching the third Harry Potter movie for the hundredth time.

As the credits rolled on the screen, Charlie snored loudly and woke herself up. She yawned and stretched before turning off the television and walking over to her computer to check her messages one last time before she went to bed. Jo had sent her an email with attachments, and she found herself opening them without a second thought.

The pictures that popped up were of the bar, apparently. It was obviously old; the wood was rustic and chipped in a few places, but the decorations were colorful and really stood out. Charlie could see a few of the items she lost to this person in various places. The bar needed some upkeep before it would be considerable for young people to hang out there, but Charlie could admit that it did actually seem _kinda_ cool. The last picture was a selfie- a blonde girl sticking up her middle finger to the camera with the bar in the background. Charlie laughed before she could stop herself.

_Okay, so Jo is a girl. A cute girl. A cute girl who owns a bar and likes video games._ Charlie smiled to herself. _Too bad she’s a bitch._ Before she went to sleep, she typed out another email to Jo.

_“Not as awful as I thought it would be. Could still use some work. -C. Bradbury”_

The next morning, she checked her email while she was at work. Jo hadn’t emailed her back, and Charlie figured it was just as well. Jo probably had better things to do than email rude strangers on the internet. Charlie went about her day as she always did: work, conversate with her fellow employees- mostly about what shows they were watching that night- and then she went home. Her life was far from exciting, and maybe that’s why she immersed herself into her interests so much. And as much as she cherished her alone time, her apartment got pretty lonely.

So she found herself checking her email again. This time, however, Jo had responded. (Totally not eagerly) she opened it.

_“You’re just so bitter, aren’t you? Well, I guess I would be too if I was some 40 year old neckbeard who had nothing better to do than harass young women over the internet. -Jo Harvelle”_

Charlie scoffed. “Do I really come across as a 40 year old neckbeard?” She reached up and touched her chin before rolling her eyes. She grabbed her camera and took a few pictures of the coolest parts of her apartment: her bedroom which was totally decked out in Star Wars deco, her entertainment system with her movie collection and action figures, and her kitchen which had a lot of assorted decorations and geeky appliances. Before she uploaded the pictures, she took one last picture, this one of herself in front of the foosball table with her middle finger up and a smug smile on her face. “Suck on that, _Jo_.”

She attached the pictures in an email and sent them without any text in the body, and without anything in the subject line. Charlie walked over to the fridge and took out some leftover Chinese takeout. She sat down in her computer chair and sighed, staring down at her “meal.” She ate it regardless, while twisting around in her chair out of boredom. After a few minutes, her computer made a pinging noise, indicating a new IM.

_joharv54: “so ur not a neckbeard after all.”_

Charlie held back a small smile and set down her food.

__

_charliezard626: “Neither are you.”_

_joharv54: “Well, ur apartment’s pretty cool, but…”_

_joharv54: “Star Wars? Really?”_

_charliezard626: “EXCUSE ME but just what the heck is wrong with Star Wars?”_

_joharv54: “lol seriously?? The prequels ruined the entire series for me.”_

_charliezard626: “Still! It’s a classic saga. And episode III wasn’t awful.”_

_joharv54: “yes it was”_

_charliezard626: “Are you TRYING to fight me”_

_joharv54: “I’m just sayin”_

_charliezard626: “First of all, I will admit that Hayden Christiansen kind of sucks.”_

_joharv54: “kind of??”_

_charliezard626: “SHUSH”_

_charliezard626: “But George Lucas created an entire universe, dude. An entire universe. With interesting and unique characters with their own stories and planets with completely unique premises. You gotta admit, that’s pretty cool.”_

_joharv54: “Yeah, it’s COOL, but that doesn’t make ep. 1-3 suck any less.”_

Charlie shrugged to herself. _She has a point._

_joharv54: “Tolkien created Middle Earth. The books and movies are way waaaay better than Star Wars could ever hope to be. George Lucas can eat shit.”_

__

Charlie laughed out loud again.

_charliezard626: “Ok… I surrender.”_

_charliezard626: “Tolkien might be better than Lucas. I’ll give you that.”_

_charliezard626: “But I still stand by Star Wars. It will always be a classic.”_

_joharv54: “Fair enough.”_

_joharv54: “Quick: Star Trek or Star Wars?”_

_charliezard626: “Uuuuugh. This question.”_

_joharv54: “lol it’s important”_

_charliezard626: “Why can’t you people just accept that you can like both?!”_

_joharv54: “u CAN like both, but 1 has to be better than the other.”_

_charliezard626: “ugh fine”_

_charliezard626: “I love Star Trek, but…”_

_joharv54: “I knew u were gonna say Star Wars”_

_charliezard626: “I’m sorry!”_

_joharv54: “yea well u should be”_

_charliezard626: “OMG whatever!”_

_joharv54: “Favorite generation?”_

_charliezard626: “TOS. Easy.”_

_joharv54: “Good answer.”_

Without even realizing how fast time was flying, Charlie spent the rest of the night chatting with Jo about everything and nothing. Mostly about the validity of Spock/Kirk and slash fiction, along with their favorite and least favorite episodes. Jo made fun of her choices and still teased her relentlessly for liking Star Wars as much as she did, but Charlie was fine with it for whatever reason.

By the time she’d ended up taking the conversation to her laptop and curling up with it in bed, it was already almost two in the morning. They’d been chatting for almost seven hours. Charlie sighed, not really wanting to stop talking. It was rare for her to find someone so easy to talk to- which was especially ironic since they _just_ started talking, and only because Charlie wanted to fight her over their eBay battles.

_joharv54: “damn I didn’t realize how late it was”_

_charliezard626: “Yeah, I was actually about to say the same thing.”_

_joharv54: “sorry 4 keepin u up”_

_charliezard626: “No, it’s cool. I actually do have to go to work pretty early in the morning though”_

_charlizard626: “well…”_

_charliezard626: “In like 6 hours, really.”_

_joharv54: “sucks to suck”_

Charlie let out a small laugh and chewed on her lip.

_joharv54: “I’ll let u go to sleep”_

_charliezard626: “Sounds good. Goodnight”_

_joharv54: “night”_

The next day, Charlie was apparently in a better mood than she usually was because _everyone_ was commenting on it. It was actually kind of annoying, but she didn’t really care. When she checked her personal email after lunch, she noticed Jo had sent her a message. Without hesitation, she opened it and looked at the attached pictures first.

They were of Jo’s bar, all of the walls had been stripped of their decorations and covered in fresh paint. The walls that used to be a greying brown were now a rich mahogany and it dramatically changed the whole vibe of the place. _It actually looks really nice._ There was another picture of Jo in overalls splattered with paint, laughing at something while holding a paintbrush. Charlie found herself smiling again and she read the body of the message.

_“We were painting today. Tomorrow we’re sanding and touching up the actual bar before we put the new finish on it. Not such a ‘lame bar’ now, is it? -Jo Harvelle”_

__

Charlie quickly typed out a reply and sent it.

_“I don’t know… Still looks kinda lame if you ask me ;) -C. Bradbury”_

On her way home from work, she picked up takeout (again). She mentally scorned herself for being such a single-lesbian-hermit stereotype. When she got to her apartment, she showered and settled down in front of the TV, putting on the new Star Trek reboot to watch while she ate dinner.

Halfway through the movie, her computer beeped and instead of moving to her desktop, she brought her laptop computer onto her lap and opened the IM.

__

_joharv54: “Hey loser”_

_joharv54: “U gotta admit the walls look pretty good”_

_charliezard626: “Fine… The walls do look a lot better.”_

_joharv54: “Yea that’s what I thought”_

_joharv54: “What r u doing tonight”_

__

Charlie sighed and looked around her apartment. “Being a very typical single woman in her mid-to-late twenties,” she mumbled.

_charliezard626: “Watching Star Trek, but it’s just a pretty boring night in.”_

_charliezard626: “Why? What are you doing?”_

_joharv54: [sent a picture]_

Charlie opened the picture to see a small, plain television set with an episode of Star Trek on. The table closest to the camera had an opened beer and a box of pizza on it.

__

_joharv54: “just wanted to see if u were too busy to talk”_

_charliezard626: “I’m not busy”_

_charliezard626: “It’s kind of funny we’re both watching Star Trek. We should watch the same movie or episode.”_

_joharv54: “Put on Spock’s Brain”_

_charliezard626: “That’s the WORST episode of TOS”_

_joharv54: “lol I know, it’ll be fun”_

__

Charlie did as Jo suggested and put on season 3 episode 1 of The Original Series. It was kind of fun to sync up with someone and watch an episode together- almost like having them over and actually watching it together. It isn’t totally the same thing, but still. Beats sitting home alone, scouring eBay for something remotely related to her interests.

__

_joharv54: “Hurry up”_

_charliezard626: “I literally just put it on”_

_joharv54: “Ok good”_

_joharv54: “So what do u do”_

_charliezard626: “?”_

_joharv54: “U had to go to work this morning & I don’t know what u do”_

_charliezard626: “Oh, I work in IT”_

_joharv54: “Oh ok, so ur a professional nerd”_

_charliezard626: “I actually prefer to maintain my amateur nerd status so I can compete in the Nerd Olympics”_

_joharv54: “hahaha!”_

_joharv54: “Ok that’s pretty funny”_

_joharv54: “4 a nerd, anyways”_

_charliezard626: “What about you? Do you just work at the bar?”_

_joharv54: “Well, I own it now. But yea.”_

_joharv54: “It was my mom and dad’s. After my dad died, my mom kept it & when she got sick, she handed it over to me. I run it with my pal, Ash.”_

_joharv54: “Sorry for the unnecessary backstory”_

_charliezard626: “Don’t be sorry, I get it.”_

_charliezard626: “I lost my parents too, so y’know”_

_charliezard626: “Just”_

_charliezard626: “I get it.”_

They once again spent the rest of the night chatting and (barely) watching Star Trek together. It was nice… _Kind of like a date. Which I haven’t been on in months._ Thankfully, Charlie doesn’t work Saturdays and didn’t have to worry about getting up early. Just like the night before, Charlie brought her laptop into bed with her and settled in for the night.

__

_charliezard626: “I don’t have to be up early tomorrow.”_

_joharv54: “dude I was literally just typing out ‘do u work tomorrow’”_

_joharv54: “lol that’s cool”_

_charliezard626: “Great minds think alike ?”_

_joharv54: “Ok what am I thinking right now”_

_charliezard626: “hmmmmmm”_

_charliezard626: “You’re thinking ‘wow I can’t believe I stole that Q*Bert topper from this really cute and smart girl who totally deserves it more than I do’”_

_joharv54: “Incredible”_

_joharv54: “Incredibly wrong”_

_joharv54: “Guess we’re not synched up after all”_

_charliezard626: “Haha okay, what were you thinking?”_

_joharv54: “Honestly, I was just singing REO Speedwagon in my head.”_

_charliezard626: “Well then I’m glad we weren’t in sync.”_

_joharv54: “Oh now u have somethin against REO?”_

_charliezard626: “I mean…”_

_joharv54: “I can’t believe this”_

_joharv54: “I trusted u”_

_joharv54: “wow”_

_joharv54: “I gotta process this information”_

_charliezard626: “I understand. It’s a lot to take in. Please… take your time.”_

_joharv54: “I think I’m gonna have to sleep on it.”_

__

Charlie felt a twinge of disappointment that their conversation was about to end. However, when she looked at the time to realize it was almost three in the morning, she decided it was probably for the best. Jo had to get up the next morning for more renovations, so it was only fair. _I shouldn’t care that a_ stranger _has a life and can’t talk to me literally all night. Get a grip, Charlie._

_joharv54: “I wanna talk to u tomorrow. Is that cool?”_

_charliezard626: “Yeah”_

_charliezard626: “It’s cool :)”_

_joharv54: “Awesome :)”_

_joharv54: “later loser”_

_charliezard626: “Haha goodnight”_

The next morning, Charlie gets woken up by the sound of an IM. She yawned and rubbed her eyes before grabbing her glasses and putting them on. Still in an early morning fog, she opened her laptop and looked at the message.

_joharv54: “Alright, so I slept on it & I think I can forgive u.”_

Charlie chuckled and rubbed her eyes some more before attempting to write out a response. She was cut off by Jo sending another message.

_joharv54: “This time.”_

_joharv54: “But don’t let it happen again.”_

_joharv54: “I’m about to head into work, though. Pretty excited for the reno today. I’ll show u later.”_

_charliezard626: “awsme cnt wait 2 c it”_

_joharv54: “lol go back to bed loser, I’ll ttyl”_

Charlie didn’t need to be told twice. She laid back down and went back to sleep immediately. After she woke back up a while later, she spent the day rotating between playing video games, browsing through eBay, and practicing her made-up kung fu moves around her apartment. After landing an “impressive” chop to her sofa, she decided to sit down and look up nunchucks on eBay. She had just placed a bid on a pretty cool pair set when her IM dinged and opened.

_joharv54: “hey”_

_joharv54: “Did u see the pics?”_

Charlie had forgotten to check her email for some reason, and immediately went to look at the message. In the attachments were four photos, all of different parts of the bar. The old wood was now black with a new marble and glass countertop, and in one of the photos Charlie could see there were comic books- or what looked like the covers of various comic books inside the glass and covering the length of the bar. It looked _really_ amazing.

_charliezard626: “OMG who came up with the idea for the counters?”_

_joharv54: “I did. Really cool, huh?”_

_charliezard626: “Dude, they’re cooler than cool!”_

_charliezard626: “Ice cold, even”_

_joharv54: “ur so embarrassing lmao”_

_charliezard626: “It’s a gift.”_

_charliezard626: “So what renovations do you have planned next?”_

_joharv54: “Honestly, we’re almost done. They’re taking care of the floors tomorrow, so I’ll drop by to oversee that, but other than that, we just have to put the deco back up. We should be open by next Friday.”_

_charliezard626: “That’s awesome!”_

_joharv54: “I know, I’m really excited. Kinda nervous, though.”_

_charliezard626: “Why?”_

_joharv54: “It’s just my 1st time running the place by myself.”_

_joharv54: “ & with the new reno, idk how people will like it.”_

_charliezard626: “I am 100% confident you’ll do great.”_

_joharv54: “U don’t even know me lol”_

Charlie stopped typing and sat back. Jo was right. They’d been talking almost nonstop for two days, but they were still strangers, and they _didn’t_ know each other.

__

_charliezard626: “Yeah, you’re right.”_

_charliezard626: “I know enough to say you’re gonna do great.”_

_charliezard626: “You obviously care a lot about the place, and you took the time to put a piece of yourself into it. I think people will be able to appreciate all of the work you put into it.”_

_joharv54: “:)”_

Charlie relaxed in her chair and brought her knees up to her chest.

__

_joharv54: “It’s kinda funny how three days ago we started talking b/c u called me a bitch.”_

_charliezard626: “Sorry about that.”_

_joharv54: “Don’t sweat it.”_

_joharv54: “U were a bitch too”_

_charliezard626: “Also true”_

_joharv54: “But I like talking to u”_

_joharv54: “Is that weird?”_

_charliezard626: “No, I like talking to you, too.”_

_charliezard626: “Honestly, when I’m not at work or LARPing, I don’t really talk to people a whole lot.”_

_joharv54: “I’ve always been kinda antisocial.”_

_joharv54: “People suck”_

_charliezard626: “Haha yeah they do. But you’re easy to talk to.”_

_charliezard626: “I mean, I’ll never forgive you for stealing QBert, but still.”_

_joharv54: “R u ever gonna let that go?”_

_charliezard626: “Never.”_

_joharv54: “I figured.”_

Charlie picked up her phone to order a pizza. _Because let’s face it: Jo’s online, and I’m probably not going to get up to get anything from the store._

__

_joharv54: “But let’s back up a second…”_

_joharv54: “U LARP?”_

_charliezard626: “Yes? Do you?”_

_joharv54: “Fat chance”_

_joharv54: “U get more embarrassing every second lol”_

_charliezard626: “First you insult Star Wars, now you insult LARPing”_

_charliezard626: “You’re just dying to fight me.”_

_joharv54: “U wanna fight let’s fight”_

_joharv54: “Let’s fucking fight, Char”_

_charliezard626: “F I G H T M E, J O”_

_joharv54: “I’m gonna come over there to Chicago and whoop ur pretty little ass”_

_joharv54: “U brought this on urself”_

_charliezard626: “Waaaait”_

_charliezard626: “You think my ass is pretty?”_

_charliezard626: “Awww”_

_joharv54: “Shut up”_

__

Charlie could feel herself giggling as if they were really having the conversation in person, and she couldn’t be bothered to care. But then she realized Jo said Chicago, which meant she knew where she was. Which is _not_ on her eBay profile.

__

_charliezard626: “Wait, how do you know I live in Chicago?”_

_joharv54: “U really think ur the only one who knows a thing or two about computers?”_

_joharv54: “I know a guy.”_

_charliezard626: “Pretty stalkerish if you ask me”_

_joharv54: “ & u hacking into the site to get my personal information is any different?”_

_charliezard626: “Yes it is”_

_charliezard626: “...”_

_charliezard626: “Mostly because I didn’t know you knew that.”_

_joharv54: “lol when u first emailed me, I thought u were some creepy middle aged loser”_

_joharv54: “It was precaution. I promise.”_

_charliezard626: “That makes sense.”_

_joharv54: “Did I make it weird?”_

_charliezard626: “No, no. It just threw me for a second.”_

_charliezard626: “So where are you? It’s only fair.”_

_joharv54: “Nebraska. It’s about 10 hrs away.”_

_charliezard626: “That’s not so bad.”_

__

The doorbell chimed and Charlie got up from the computer to answer the door. It was just the pizza guy, as expected, so she got the pizza and sat back down at the computer.

_joharv54: “What r u doing next Friday?”_

_charliezard626: “Pretty sure it’s a holiday, so I think I have the day off, IIRC. Why?”_

_joharv54: “This is foreward as hell, but do u think u’d wanna come to the re-opening?”_

_joharv54: “No pressure or anything”_

_joharv54: “U don’t have to”_

_joharv54: “yea it’s prob really weird that I asked, sorry”_

Charlie laughed to herself.

__

_charliezard626: “If it’s weird to ask, is it weird to say yes?”_

_charliezard626: “Because I totally want to say yes.”_

_joharv54: “I think if u say yea, then that makes it NOT weird.”_

_charliezard626: “Well then hell yeah I’ll come.”_

_joharv54: [sent a picture]_

__

Charlie opened the picture and grinned when she saw it was a selfie Jo took of herself right then. Jo was sitting in a chair next to a lamp or something with a big dorky smile on her face. Charlie laughed and decided to reciprocate by taking one of herself, smiling just as genuinely.

The girls continued to chat for the rest of the night and well into the morning. The next day, they exchanged gamertags and decided to play XBox together and chat via the microphone. If Charlie hadn’t had the tiniest of crushes earlier, she definitely did now. Hearing Jo’s voice made her real, and playing video games with a cute girl who’s as equally competitive as you are, and can totally give you a run for your money in just about any game? That’s pretty freakin’ cool.

Their talking became consistent very quickly, either through IMing or XBox. Within the next few days, they exchanged phone numbers and started texting throughout the day.

On the Thursday right before Charlie was set to make the ten hour trek to Nebraska, Charlie got a package in the mail. She stared at it curiously. _I don’t remember buying anything last week. Oh my God, my problem’s getting worse. I’m eBaying in my sleep._ Charlie opened the package only to find a big, orange Q*Bert game topper. She smiled and flipped it over a few times in her hands. In the box was a small note card with scribbled handwriting.

_“Now you can shut up about it. -Jo”_

She walked over to her entertainment system and cleared off a spot so she could show off the new addition to her collection. She admired it and deemed the figure to be the highlight of her living room.

Because, yeah, Charlie’s got a hell of a collection of figurines, posters, blankets, mugs, and just about anything else you can name. If you can find it on eBay, she probably has it. But now she has this giant, obnoxiously orange reminder that she also has something totally priceless.

Speaking of which, that “something priceless” was calling her. Charlie took her phone out and answered the call. “Hey! I got your present.”

“Yeah, I figured the only way to get you to shut up about it was if I gave it back,” Jo replied with a laugh. “Even though it wasn’t yours to begin with- I won him fair and square.”

“Dude, we are _not_ having this conversation again. You and I both know Q*Bert was mine from the beginning.”

“Alright, whatever you say, loser,” she conceded. “Oh yeah, Ash just said it looks like a lot of people are talking about the Roadhouse online. It’s looking like we’re gonna have a full house tomorrow.”

“Oh man, you’re gonna be too busy to talk to me, aren’t you?”

Jo chuckled from the other end of the line. “No way. I’ve got way too many arcade games to beat you at, I can’t just leave you alone all night.”

“Why do you still think you’re gonna beat me? I was the Pac-Man champ growing up.”

“Face it, loser, you’re going down.”

Charlie huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes. Listening to Jo trash talk her made her even more excited for her trip to meet in person. She wasn’t really itching to find new things to buy anymore. All she really wanted to do was talk to Jo, play video games with her, and watch movies together. Because eBay has pretty much everything Charlie could ever imagine, but some things definitely can’t be bought.

 


End file.
